Fabrication of lysozyme/κ-carrageenan complex nanoparticles as a novel carrier to enhance the stability and in vitro release of curcumin

In this manuscript, lysozyme/κ-carrageenan (LYS-CRG) complexes were prepared and used to encapsulate curcumin. The LYS-CRG complexes demonstrate good encapsulation of curcumin (CUR), and the encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading capacity (LC) reach 96.2% and 2.31%, respectively. The encapsulated CUR has high antioxidant activity, while the thermal stability and photostability of CUR are also increased. The LYS-CRG complexes could effectively improve the storage stability of CUR and increase its retention rate. In simulated gastric fluid, only 17.91% CUR in the CUR-LYS-CRG complex nanoparticles is released in 3 h, while in the simulated intestinal fluid, the CUR release rate quickly reaches 62.56% in 1.5 h. The release rate tends to be stable within 1.5 h to 3 h and the final release rate reaches 67.23%, suggesting that the formation of CUR-LYS-CRG complex nanoparticles does not affect CUR release in the simulated intestinal fluid.